All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
There are a variety of materials and types of surfaces that may be incorporated in devices. Hydrophobic surfaces bind very weakly with water, which makes drops of water “bead up” on the surface. A hydrophobic surface generally has a water contact angle greater than 90°. Hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces are very important for the fabrication of non-sticky and self-cleaning surfaces. Anti-reflective materials are usually used as coatings on the surface of lenses or other devices to reduce reflections. They are very important in the fields of optics, photovoltaics and military use. Anti-reflective materials can improve the efficiency of the system by reducing the light loss in optics and photovoltaics and can also be used as protection against laser targeting in military applications.
Arrays of nanostructures organized on surfaces are interesting because they provide excellent surface properties such as: superhydrophobicity, anti-reflectivity, enhanced catalytic activity, surface plasmon resonance activity, which are essential for very important applications including biosensors, solar cells, self-cleaning surfaces and anti-reflective coating. A technology to functionalize desired surfaces with these nanostructures is urgently demanded for medical diagnostics, energy industries and military industries and even for every day's life objects (for example, car, clothes, etc.). The problem is that these objects have various and complex shapes, and thus, their coating with such ordered nanostructures is currently difficult since it requires the use of very costly and time consuming technologies.